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Are You Ready for This Year’s Part C and Part D of Call Center Monitoring: Timeliness and Accuracy & Accessibility Studies?

Language Services Associates (LSA), a thought-leader in the language interpretation services industry, has been coordinating, planning, and establishing the best practices to meet and exceed the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Call Center Monitoring requirements and expectations for years. With every call, onsite visit, or translation project, LSA provides the tools and guidance you need to succeed.

What are the Timeliness and Accuracy & Accessibility Studies?

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services place test calls to audit health plan call centers from February until June. These calls are to ensure that Medicare Advantage (MA) and Medicare Prescription Drug plans (part C and D) offer clear communication quickly and accurately to their beneficiaries.

What Does this Mean and What Role Does my Language Services Provider Play?

  • There are two parts to CMS’ Part C and Part D Call Center Monitoring initiative. First is the Timeliness Study, which focuses on average hold times and disconnect rates.
  • The second part is where your language service provider plays a vital role – the Accuracy & Accessibility Study. This measures Part C and Part D prospective beneficiary call center telephone lines to determine interpreter availability for Limited English Proficient (LEP) callers, teletypewriter (TTY) efficiency, and the accuracy with which customer service representatives (CSR) convey plan information to their LEP consumer.
  • During a test call a CMS surveyor will evaluate how efficient your Customer Service Representative (CSR) is at connecting an interpreter or TTY operator to the call. The CMS Call Center Monitoring Study first measures interpreter availability. Upon connection to a call (when the CMS Surveyor reaches a Customer Service Representative), your CSR has eight minutes to successfully demonstrate that they can answer questions about plan benefits using an interpreter. Once an interpreter is on the line, the CMS surveyor will assess the accuracy of the information communicated from the interpreter to the beneficiary.
Partnering with a language service provider that has experience and expertise in servicing calls as part of CMS’ Call Center Monitoring Study is critical to ensuring the greatest success during the study, and in servicing your beneficiaries throughout the year. LSA has a well-executed plan put into place each year that is reviewed and revised to accommodate any changes or updates for each season. With a team of dedicated employees and highly trained interpreters with CMS experience, LSA is your ideal partner in attaining the highest rating possible.

How LSA Improves Your CMS Star Rating

  • LSA’s dedicated team is devoted to CMS testing with the tools to offer guidance and support to attain a higher score and improve overall communication with LEP beneficiaries. Our staff is constantly monitoring, growing, planning, and keeping up to date with any changes or updates to CMS star rating protocols year-round.
  • Our highly qualified interpreters, who’ve completed rigorous assessments, are prepped, and provided with additional resources for CMS testing season. These interpreters understand the significance of these calls and are more than proficient in the terminology and nuances required to succeed.
  • Careful coordination, open communication, and experience are key factors when choosing a language service provider to partner with during CMS test call season. LSA expertly delivers on all three and invites you to contact us to determine the best course of action in attaining the highest star rating possible.

How Does CMS Testing Affect My Organization?

  • CMS Star Ratings
  • QBPs: Quality Bonus Payments
  • MA Rebates
  • Health Plan Reputation
CMS ratings are done on a scale of one to five stars, with one being below average and five indicating a plan that goes above and beyond. These results are available to the public during open enrollment as a guide to determine the best plan for beneficiaries to choose from. These results also determine the Quality Bonus Payments and MA rebate a plan will receive. Established in 2012, as part of the Affordable Care Act as an incentive to improve quality standards, QBPs and MA rebates are based on these CMS star ratings – the higher rating a plan receives the more funding they’re awarded.

Languages to be Tested in 2024

  • Spanish
  • Cantonese
  • Mandarin
  • Vietnamese
  • French
  • Tagalog
  • English
Contact Jodi Bralow (Vice President of Contracting & Compliance) at  [email protected] to learn more about how LSA’s CMS Test Season process will help you reach your goals.

About LSA

For over three decades Language Services Associates (LSA) has offered a full suite of language interpretation solutions to help optimize the experience of limited English proficient customers and patients. Providing native language support improves the efficiency and productivity of staff, raises customer satisfaction levels, and builds loyalty. For thousands of clients worldwide, in more than 230 languages, LSA provides a competitive differentiator in the healthcare, government, financial and banking, insurance, entertainment, sports, hospitality, and manufacturing industries.